Generally, consumer products and services fall into one of two categories. First, the product or service may be sold over-the-counter and used without professional assistance or input. Examples of such products and services include common household goods, food, OTC medications, and an endless list of other items purchased in everyday life. Alternatively, consumer products and services may be purchased with professional help. Examples include prescription medications, haircutting and other treatments, automobile repairs, and another endless list of products and services found in everyday life.
Rarely is there an opportunity for a business to effect a purchase over the counter, followed by professional installation or activation. Such products and services do, however, occur. For example, one may purchase a common household faucet or electrical switch at the retail hardware store and have the faucet or electrical switch later installed by a trained plumber or electrician. Likewise, the consumer may purchase a cell phone at a retail source. Upon purchase of the cell phone, it is remotely activated by the carrier. However, in each of these cases, certain trade-offs occur. For example, in the situation of the purchase from the hardware store, the user has the option of installing the faucet or electrical switch without professional assistance and risking improper installation. In the case of the telephone activation, the activation occurs remotely and the consumer may feel a loss of control, particularly if the activation is not successful on the first try. The situation becomes exacerbated if, as frequently occurs, the user is not aware that a problem has occurred in the telephone activation. For example, the user may judge problems in making/receiving calls on the phone to be attributable to unfamiliarity with the new phone, being located in an area of bad reception, or due to other problems.
Frequently, activation of devices occurs without professional direction. For example, radio frequency identification (RFID) chips are known to be utilized with and installed in animals. While there have been several attempts in the art to do so, none provides the multiple benefits of giving the consumer plural choices of RFID chips from which to choose, the convenience of purchasing at a retail outlet, and the assurance of professional activation by someone having the proper training. Illustrative of the attempts in the art limited to simply utilizing RFID chips in pets, without all of the aforementioned benefits, are found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,129, iss. May 18, 1993 to Taylor et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,409, iss. May 25, 1993 to Beigel; U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,326, iss. Aug. 10, 1993 to Beigel et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,011, iss. Oct. 26, 1993 to Beigel; U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,017, iss. Mar. 12, 1996 to Beigel; and US 2003/0163141 A1, pub. Aug. 28, 2003, in the names of Malfanti et al.
Additionally, attempts to manage purchasing activation of devices relating to pets and other consumer products is known in the art, as each of these fails to provide the combination of retail convenience and professional competency needed by the consumer. Examples of such attempts in the art include U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,210, iss. May 8, 1990 to Matsui et al.; US 2004/0034575 A1, pub. Feb. 19, 2004 in the name of Oh; and EP 0 367 361 A2, pub. May 9, 1990 in the name of Parker.
What is needed then is a way to continually provide the consumer with a product or service, or more preferably, a selection of products and services at the retail level. It is also needed that the consumer utilize professional installation and activation of such products as needed.